Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Guadalupe River State Park

Last week, Josh and I took off 3 days and headed down to the Guadalupe River.  We like to avoid the weekend crowds, and this turned out to be a great trip!  We stayed at Guadalupe River State Park at the perfect little campsite- #45.  We tried out a new portable air conditioner for our tent and even used air mattresses for the first time.  I think we're getting old!  

We don't have any pictures from our first day because we were in the river most of the day.  We found a couple of nice spots where the river was deep enough to swim, and the water felt great!  Then we rested in our cool tent until around 7:30pm when we decided to cook dinner.

For our second day, we headed to Canyon Lake with the canoe.  We didn't get to launch from the point we were hoping, so we had a lots of extra paddling to do.  Eventually we found the perfect swimming spot.  There were rocks at the edge to rest on, and then the rocks dropped off pretty steep into the water.  This meant that we could jump off of the rocks into the water without hitting anything.  Titus had a blast at this spot and completely wore himself out.  He would retrieve his toy and then start crying if we didn't throw it again very quickly.  The water was so pretty and clean too- not at all like the lakes around Abilene :)
Titus is ready to play!
Splash!
Our little swimmer
Such a relaxing spot

Later in the day, we headed to the other end of the lake.  We explored the spot right below the dam where the cold water from the bottom of the lake comes out.  It was freezing but felt so good!  Titus was gulping water at this spot and enjoyed some play time with Josh.  Apparently, this Guadalupe Park is the southernmost sustainable trout fishery in the nation.
Beautiful, cold water
Titus likes to bound through the water to retrieve his toy.
Josh braving the cold water- brrr!
Happy dog with his best friend

We also visited the dam area since we were nearby.
Canyon Lake from Overlook Park
Canyon Dam
A roadrunner zipped right by Josh as he was taking the previous pictures.

On our 3rd day, we decided to explore New Braunfels before heading home.  We ended up finding Landa Park which is one of the best city parks we've visited.  Lots of shade trees along the Comal River made walking around very pleasant. 
Josh and Titus in front of  Founder's Oak- a 300 year old tree.
Founder's Oak
We had to take this picture since Titus' middle name is Meriweather even though it's spelled differently.  (Titus is named after Meriweather Lewis of Lewis and Clark because Titus is such a great explorer and he was born in Lewiston, Idaho.)


We had such a great time on this trip and hope to explore more of this area in the future!